Penny Investigations 2: Deadly Secrets
by marcelb
Summary: Penny is called to assist in the investigation of the murder of a 33 year old woman. Kelvin is almost certain her husband did it, though he doesn't appear to have any motive. Can Penny figure out what actually happened? This is the 2nd story in the Penny Investigations series. Completed.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Here is my second story in my _Penny Investigations_ series. As with the previous story, this one has been fully written and I will post a new chapter each week.  
**

**Again, a huge 'thank you' to my wonderful beta _bfm10_ for going over the story and pointing out where my rewrites caused information to go missing.**

**This story will not feature any interaction with the other BBT characters, but I promise that in the third story we will dive a little bit further into Lenny. I have a feeling that from the third story onward, Leonard will make an appearance in every story. And there's always a chance of other BBT characters turning up.**

**Once again, the story follows Penny's point of view as she works on solving the mystery.**

* * *

Penny put on her latex gloves as she approached the taped-off crime scene. A new police officer, one she'd never seen, stopped her.

"Excuse me, miss, you can't enter a crime scene."

She nearly rolled her eyes, but managed to keep it at a mildly annoyed look. "I'm Penny, a consultant for the police. Detective Dale has asked for my assistance." She could see the doubt in his eyes, but luckily Kelvin approached and instructed the police officer to let her through.

"Morning, Penny," Kelvin greeted her. "The victim is Alicia Browning, thirty three years of age, married." He lead her to the body. "The husband called it in, claiming he found her like this after he returned from a short errand."

Penny was quite aware of Kelvin's rule of thumb in these kind of cases: nine out of ten times, the spouse was the killer. Penny knew that statistically, he was not necessarily wrong. The short errand the husband had been on was certainly a red flag. But she knew there was always a chance her husband's short absence had been a convenience for the real killer.

She slowly walked around the body, trying to find any small clue as to what had happened, that the police might have overlooked. Not that they were incompetent, but she knew she was often much better at picking up small details than almost anyone else she knew. "Why was the husband home?"

"He's retired as of two weeks ago," Kelvin replied.

Penny nodded. The husband was probably quite a bit older then. She glanced around briefly and spotted a man in his sixties, looking absolutely devastated. It was not an act, that much Penny was sure off. But was he devastated because he lost his wife, or because he realized what he had done? Penny wasn't really sure. "Which of the two is the rich one?" Considering the neighborhood, you didn't need to be a detective to realize these houses could only be afforded by the rich.

"He is," Kelvin replied, sounding a little disappointed as it took away money as a motive. "Not that she didn't have a dime, she made quite a bit more than I do, but no, I doubt her money would be a motive for Mr. Browning. That's why I called you, see if you could find something."

Penny nodded again, crouching down and carefully lifting the woman's left arm. "There's a little piece of paper between her fingers and the palm of her hand." Carefully she removed it from the woman's grasp and then laid the arm back down. "Damn it," she said. "It's just a corner, nothing on it."

Having completed her round, she looked at the body, specifically the bullet hole. From her frequent experimentation on dead pigs she determined the most likely trajectory. The bullet had been dead-center on the heart, but had a slight upward angle. Assuming Alicia and her killer had both been standing, the killer would have been shorter; how much depended on the distance between the two.

She retrieved her phone and opened one of her specialized apps, this one to determine bullet trajectory and likely point of origin. She had a lot of variables to enter, several things she had to measure, but a few minutes later it became clear the two had been standing only a few feet apart. The killer, assuming a regular shooting stance, would have been about three inches shorter. She shared her findings with Kelvin, who promised to have it looked into to collaborate her findings.

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny had to consciously shut off her emotions as she sat across from Thomas, now a widower after the homicide earlier this morning. It was obvious he had loved his much younger wife; there was no act he was putting on, he really was devastated to have lost his wife. Penny felt sympathy for the man, but she had to focus on the actual interview, find any clues as to who had murdered Alicia, and why they might have done it.

"Mr. Browning," Kelvin began, "we realize these are difficult times, but we need you to give us as much information as you can."

Thomas nodded and visibly collected himself. "What do you need to know?"

Kelvin looked at the file. "You were married three years ago, correct?"

"Yes, April seventh, twenty fifteen."

Penny took a moment to calculate the day of the week. She recently learned that trick from a mathematician she sometimes asked for help on cases where math was somehow involved. As with anything, practice ensures you not only retain the information, it also helps in becoming better at it. Her calculations resulted in Friday, but she would check later if she was correct.

"There's quite a difference in age. So, I have to ask..."

"No," Thomas interrupted Kelvin's question. "I know exactly what you want to ask, but no. Alicia and I met when she was eighteen and started her internship at our company. I've always told myself, and anyone around me, I would never date someone much younger than myself. Whenever I saw couples with such difference in age, I would always think that younger one was just in it for the money, or that the older one was seeing their younger partner as a trophy."

Thomas paused, smiling wistfully. "And then Alicia started her internship and I found myself wanting to approach her and being disgusted with myself for wanting to pursue anything with such a young woman in the first place. We were friendly, but that was basically all that was going on. I had managed to make myself believe she wouldn't be interested in an old fart like me."

He paused again. "After her internship ended, I figured I would forget about her, but we kept bumping in to each other every now and then. Each time I ended up at home confused and sad. My feelings didn't really seem to go away. I never talked about it, to anyone, but it turned out my daughters had figured it out. One day they set me up on a blind date, telling me to not think too much, just enjoy the evening and see if there was a spark."

He chuckled. "Of course they'd set me up on a date with Alicia. You can imagine my surprise at finding out she was my date for the evening. I found out that evening that she had feelings for me, almost since the first time we met, but she didn't want to be seen as a gold digger. A year later I proposed and we were married only six months later."

"Sounds like your daughters approved of her," Kelvin said. "Was there anyone who didn't approve of you two getting together?"

Thomas was thinking. "No, not to my knowledge."

Penny leaned forward. "Mr. Browning, did you notice any change in demeanor in your wife? Was she nervous or extra careful about locking the house?"

Thomas started to shake his head, but halted. "I can't say she seemed nervous, but recently something had upset her. When I asked her about it, she said she hadn't much to share, just that she learned something that really upset her, but that she didn't have all the details yet."

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny sat in the chair in the waiting area of the company Alicia had worked for, a high profile legal office. As usual, she took the time to observe the new surroundings. Even with as little of the company to be seen from here, there's always things to learn. Contrary to other legal service providing companies, there wasn't an abundance of costly art hanging on the walls, most of the art being rather small decorative pieces.

She also spotted three camera's just overlooking the waiting area; with the two pointing at the main entrance, that was quite a bit of security, considering the attorney office primarily handled wealthy businesses and their owners. She'd already noticed the bullet resisting glass before even entering the building. This was clearly a front for some government alphabet agency.

A blond, attractive woman approached them then, her eyes obviously scanning the both of them, assessing if they were threat. Definitely a former field agent, perhaps CIA. A slight limp in her left leg told Penny the woman had sustained an injury, probably forced her into a desk job. Penny stood up along with Kelvin.

"Hello, my name is Sarah Walker, general manager," the tall blond said, introducing herself, a bright smile intended to dazzle and distract. Penny's suspicions about this being a CIA cover office only grew. "How can we help the Pasadena police department?"

"Miss Walker," Kelvin started, "I'd prefer to discuss this privately, if at all possible? Anyone could pass by and overhear us."

Sarah nodded once. "Of course. Please, follow me."

Kelvin and Penny followed her, Penny taking quick glances left and right as they moved through the long corridor, not stopping until they reached the very last door to, as it turned out, a conference room. Penny hadn't missed the fact that various people they'd passed were carrying a weapon.

Once they were seated, declining the offer of coffee or tea, Kelvin sat up straight. "Miss Walker, we're here because of the murder of your employee Alicia Browning, earlier this today."

Penny could tell Sarah was genuinely surprised; clearly they hadn't heard yet, though that was to be expected, as Alicia had taken a personal day today. What was odd was the brief moment of worry Sarah exhibited, but expertly managed to hide almost instantly. If Penny hadn't been paying close attention to Sarah's reaction to the news, she would have completely missed it.

"Oh my God. What happened?"

Kelvin shrugged a little. "We are not certain. We were hoping to learn more about miss Browning's work, her colleagues. If there was anything going on that might have made her a target of some sort."

Penny narrowed her eyes slightly; it was clear Sarah was receiving a message, possibly being instructed by her boss.

"We don't handle criminal cases," Sarah began. "And Alicia was a junior paralegal, though she was up for promotion to the senior paralegal ranks."

"Were there any colleagues who might feel they were being passed over?"

"I doubt it," Sarah replied. "Her colleagues all liked her, and of all our current junior paralegals, she's been with us the longest."

"Would it be possible for us to talk to a few of them," Kelvin asked.

Again Sarah glanced at what Penny assumed to be a small display of some kind. "I'm sorry, but we can't do that. As you may know, the job of a paralegal is one with tight deadlines and a lot of stress. Pulling them from their work for anything longer than a minute could endanger any of our current legal cases."

Penny had enough. "We all know this company is a front for the CIA. Alicia was probably investigating someone, or something."

It took Sarah a little more effort to hide her worry this time, and then she laughed. "You believe we're..." She shook her head, but glanced down briefly to, Penny assumed, read another message. "You have quite the imagination." She looked at Kelvin. "I'm surprised the police department works with a private investigator on a murder investigation."

Penny smiled. "I'm surprised you know that I _am_ a private investigator. Considering I haven't even introduced myself." She lifted her head and nodded toward the camera she'd spotted upon entry to the room, positioned right behind and above Sarah. "Maybe you should ask your boss to join us, so he doesn't have to keep sending you messages after every question we have."

* * *

**AN2: If you have a perfectly good name for a CIA agent, you might as well re-use it, right? _Sarah Walker_ is the CIA agent in the TV show _Chuck_. I used her name and general appearance, but the character is not intended to be that Sarah Walker.**


	2. Chapter 2

"First, I'd like to know what gave us away."

Penny shrugged. "Bullet resistant glass, two camera's observing the entrance and front desk, several camera's observing the waiting area, cheap art work and while we were being led here, I noticed several employees carrying a weapon. Sarah here was analyzing us as she approached, carried herself as a field agent. From the slight limp in her left leg, I deduced she was probably injured in the field and transferred here."

The agent in charge - who had introduced himself as agent Dunwood, which Penny assumed was not his real name, just like Sarah Walker was unlikely to be the name on her birth certificate - smiled and shook his head. "If you ever get tired of working with the police, feel free to apply for a job with us."

"Agent Dunwood," Kelvin tried to regain control over the meeting. Penny felt sorry for not being able to give him a heads-up earlier, surprising him in the middle of an interview. "Can you tell us if miss Browning was working on something that might have led to her being killed today?"

Sarah pushed a file toward them, as agent Dunwood replied. "This file can not leave the office. Agent Browning was not a field agent, although she had had training. Her job consisted of collating evidence, analyzing them and searching for patterns. That was her strongest point, finding patterns. Like you," he nodded at Penny, "she had a keen eye for small details, things many other - often more experienced - analysts, would overlook or pass off as unimportant."

Penny had read the first page quickly, detailing the research Alicia had been doing, including her findings. The woman definitely had been sharp, easily connecting two seemingly unrelated events. "Her name was never mentioned to anyone?"

Penny continued reading the pages, but saw in her peripheral view Sarah shaking her head. "No. All evidence is delivered to another substation. Non-physical evidence is transferred digitally and I retrieve physical evidence myself from that substation. We do everything we can to ensure our analysts don't have to worry too much about their safety. Virtually none of our field agents know of this building."

"So some do," Penny helpfully translated. "Anyone of them working on this case?" She pushed the file over to Kelvin.

Sarah glanced at agent Dunwood, who gave a short shrug. "Only two field agents know of this location. One is a friend of mine, who is in deep cover abroad. The other one decided to quit several years ago. Her identity is unknown, ensuring her safety."

"Penny," agent Dunwood said, leaning forward. "We are reasonably certain agent Browning was not killed due to her involvement in a case. That being said, we can not entirely dismiss it. We have looked in to you when you two arrived."

Penny nodded, having already deduced that.

"We know you are very good at what you do, you've closed many cases, and quickly. We want you and the police to take the lead in this investigation, but I insist on letting us know if your investigation points back to us. We can not allow you to investigate into federal employees or the missions they are on."

Penny nodded again. She had no desire to step too far into a federal case.

* * *

# # #

* * *

Once Penny came home, she did what she always did: start a new case file on a specialized program developed by her computer friend. It provided her with a safe, virtually unhackable environment in which she could compile her case files and store them safely and encrypted in the cloud. On her phone she had an app which allowed her to quickly check anything she'd noted about a case and, if absolutely required, she could even add new notes. The bulk of it, however, she did at home on her computer. Her friend had insisted on a dual monitor setup, which had taken her some time to get used to, but she couldn't deny it had increased her productivity.

Penny thought for a few seconds about this case; despite being confident her case files could not be read by anyone but her, she decided against explicitly referring to the CIA. She seriously doubted the victim's current case was linked to her murder here; the current case she was analyzing was based all the way in the state of New York. Briefly, Penny wondered if either of the two CIA agents she'd spoken with knew she could speed read, then dismissed the thought as unimportant.

First thing to log about this case, the victim's information, minus her real job description. Next to Alicia's card, she added the card for Thomas. He was someone she needed to speak with again, soon. Given Alicia's actual job, she'd had to have a concealed weapon, which meant Alicia either hadn't carried it right then, or someone - hopefully Thomas - had taken it.

Next card was the killer. She noted the estimated height, based on her calculations, and added one more detail: most likely known by victim. That was the most logical reason Penny could think of why Alicia hadn't been able to defend herself, despite facing her killer. As a CIA agent, even an analyst like her, she would've had training to defend herself. The fact that she hadn't, meant she had not expected to be attacked or killed by that person.

Of course, it was entirely possible the killer had drawn attention to have Alicia turn around before pulling the trigger. But even then, Alicia would've been on alert if it was a stranger's voice, would not have turned around without preparing to defend herself. There had been no indication Alicia had tried to defend herself, and Penny was certain she'd have picked them out.

She added a card regarding her - cover, though Penny didn't mention that detail - job as a paralegal: _up for a promotion, none of her coworkers appeared to begrudge her that promotion_. All true, if somewhat evasive.

Penny then opened the default fact sheet document and added all facts, chronologically as she had found them, again minus the CIA link. Most facts were automatically taken from the individual cards, she simply ordered them. She then added one more fact: Thomas had mentioned Alicia had been upset about something. She opened up Alicia's card again, adding _has found out something upsetting_.

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny waited patiently in front of the house, looking around the neighborhood. Definitely a nice place to live. Quiet and a Cul-de-Sac was near perfect to keep track of the comings and goings, as there was only one way getting in or out. She smiled as she saw the neighbor across the Browning's home trying - and failing miserably - to inconspicuously observe Penny. At that moment the front door started to open, and Penny moved her attention back to the house.

"Can I help you?"

Penny could easily see the resemblance with Thomas and knew the woman eying her suspiciously was one of his daughters. She smiled in a friendly manner. "Hi, I'm Penny, a consultant for the police. I was wondering if your dad could make some time available to have another conversation with me? Maybe you can join in as well? The more information we have, the greater the chance of finding the killer."

The woman was still looking doubtful, but Thomas' voice could then be heard saying, "Jenny, please let her in."

Penny entered the house and then noticed Thomas' other daughter - Veronica, Penny remembered from her quick check earlier - standing half in front of him, clearly tracking Penny's every move. There was brief eye contact between the two Browning daughters and the suspicion lessened, but did not leave entirely. Penny figured it best to address Thomas directly.

"Sorry for visiting unannounced, Mr. Browning," Penny began, and followed the man to the living room, being careful to make sure neither daughter thought she'd might attack him. "But I have some more questions."

The older man nodded and gestured to the couch, before he himself sat down in the comfortable chair across from her. His two daughters sat down next to her, effectively trapping her between them, though Penny had deliberately chosen the center seat. "Yesterday we visited your wife's place of work, and it looks like the killing is unrelated to her current investigation."

She paused, waiting for the shock to wear off. "Agents Dunwood and Walker briefly showed me the file she was working on, and because I can speed read, I can say with ninety-nine percent certainty that case is not involved."

Thomas leaned forward. "You can't just talk about Alicia's actual job in front of anyone. What if my daughters weren't informed?"

Penny looked first at Jennifer and then at Veronica. "Considering they're both field agents, I felt confident they were fully aware."

Thomas sat back, letting out a puff of air. "I can't believe they told you about my daughters."

"Nobody told me," Penny replied. "But the way these two were watching me and protecting you was a good indication. Add to that the concealed weapon they both have on them right now, the only conclusion was that they are in law enforcement. It's rare for police officers to behave in this particular manner, hence they're federal."

Thomas smiled and shook his head. "Alicia was thinking about asking for your help," he said softly. "Now I understand why."

This came as a surprise to Penny. "Me?"

He nodded. "I'll get her file, the one she needed your help with." He stood up and left.

Penny looked first to her left, then to her right. Both women were contemplating asking her a question, and Penny had a pretty good idea what it was.

"Okay, I gotta know," Jennifer caved first. "How the hell did you know we were carrying?"

Penny smiled. "Well, you kept your right hand behind your back at all times, with your elbow slightly bent. Clearly you had your hand on your weapon which you apparently keep in an inside waistband holster toward your right backside. Your sister," Penny continued, glancing at Veronica briefly, "seems to favor an outside holster and cover it up with longer shirts." She turned once more to Veronica. "I suggest adopting a slight slouching posture, to better conceal it. When you're standing up straight, anyone paying attention might notice the small protrusion on your left side."

* * *

# # #

* * *

"This is all Alicia had managed to obtain," Thomas said as he entered the living room, lifting a thin file as he did so. "After our conversation yesterday morning, I looked into it, but I can't make heads or tails of it."

Penny held out her hand, requesting the file. She opened it and speed read the five pages. "She was looking into some insurance fraud," Penny said. "At least, that's what it looks like." She looked up. "I've read one of her CIA case files, and it was very detailed and much more coherent than this file."

"It's definitely her handwriting," Veronica said, finally using her voice in front of Penny.

Penny nodded slowly, going over the first page. "It's either a red herring, or she used some kind of code." She paused. "I couldn't help but notice the neighbor across from you keeps watching your house like a hawk. At first I thought she was just trying to see who I was, but she's still looking at the house."

Thomas smiled. "That's just Pat. A bit nosy, but she means well. She was good friends with Alicia. Her husband unfortunately died a few months ago, terrible car accident."

Penny nodded. "Would it be possible for me to see Alicia's home office? I assume she had one?"

"Sure."

Penny stood up and Thomas led them all to Alicia's office.

"We already went over everything," Jennifer said, "But we couldn't find anything."

Penny walked around slowly, her eyes taking in every detail in the office. Unlike her, Alicia clearly kept every inch of the place tidy and orderly, which made it easier for Penny to find discrepancies. "Did you move anything, other than checking her files?"

Veronica shook her head. "No. We did take photographs of everything before we searched it, just to make sure that if we did jostle anything by accident, we'd still have a record of how we found the place."

"Do you have a picture of that wall," Penny asked, pointing at the wall that had caught her eye.

"Sure," Jennifer said, approaching her with her phone in her hand, swiping though the list of photos. "Here it is."

Penny looked at the photo. "And you're one hundred percent sure you didn't touch or remove anything?"

Jennifer frowned. "Absolutely sure, we were very careful. In fact, we only opened her desk drawer, didn't touch anything else."

Penny looked at Thomas, who shook his head. "No, I've only been in here to get the file from the desk and read it."

"Then we'd better dust for prints," Penny said. "According to the time stamp, you took this picture this morning at nine-twelve. Since that time, someone's been in here." Penny retrieved her latex gloves, and noticed all three Brownings doing the same.

"A little after ten we went to see Alicia's parents," Thomas explained. "We didn't return until two."

Penny nodded. "Plenty of time to search the office. Whoever it was, was probably looking for a now missing book. Luckily for us, they messed up."

"I don't see it," Jennifer said, having scrutinized the photo and the wall.

Penny pointed with her latex finger at two books. "These two are not ordered alphabetical, even though every other book in here is." She pointed at the picture, to the same books. "What I didn't know until I saw the photo, was that there had been a third book in between those two."

* * *

**To be continued**


	3. Chapter 3

Jennifer and her father began a search of the house, to check if the thief had been anywhere else. Penny remained with Veronica who used her set of tools to get the finger prints.

"You know, I think Alicia would've liked you," Veronica said. "She was very observant, very good at piecing things together, just like you. I'm not sure if anyone else would've noticed the mistake in the order the books were placed."

Penny shrugged, always feeling somewhat uncomfortable when others praised her skills, mostly because she wasn't sure she deserved to be praised for something that was mostly an innate ability. Sure, she practiced whenever she had some spare time, perfecting it, but it wasn't something she had to work hard on to learn.

"Don't tell me you feel undeserving of the praise? Alicia was the same, you know. It was just something she could do and she always felt uncomfortable when one of us told her how good she was, how proud we were when she solved yet another case."

Penny shrugged again, not sure how to respond. After a brief moment of silently watching Veronica expertly obtaining the second set of finger prints, Penny decided to ask Veronica a question. "Your father told me how you and your sister set him up on a date with Alicia."

Veronica rolled her eyes and then grinned. "Those two were just pining for each other, we decided to give them a little push."

Penny smiled. "Yeah, but you do know what was holding them back, right?"

"Yes, unimportant reasons. Why care about what other people _might_ think about their relationship? It's more important to be happy. To be honest, I'm still to this day unsure whether or not Alicia knew who I was setting her up with, but dad definitely didn't know."

"I think it's great that you two supported their relationship."

"We just wanted dad to be happy. Mind you, both Jen and I tailed her a few times, trying to find out if she was right for him."

Penny grinned. If Alicia was as good as Penny was, she probably discovered the tail.

Veronica finished with the third set of prints. "There, that should do it." She handed it to Penny. "Since this doesn't seem to be a federal case, you can have the police department look into this."

"We found no other indication of someone having been here," Jennifer announced her arrival. "The locks on both the front and back doors have not been tampered with. All windows have locks on the inside only and they were all closed."

Penny nodded, already expecting that. The locks on the Browning residence were top of the line, virtually impossible to pick by an amateur. It would take even her, with all her experience in all kinds of locks, over a minute to successfully pick the front door lock. "Does anyone outside the family have a key? A neighbor, maybe?"

Thomas nodded. "Yes, we gave a key to Randall and Mindy next door." He pointed to the house on the left side of them. "They're out of town though, left three days ago and won't be back for another week and a half."

Penny nodded again, furrowing her brow in thought. "Did they give you their key as well?"

"Yeah, we keep an eye on each other's homes when the other couple's out of town."

Penny nodded again. "Okay, thank you for your time and help. I'll get Kelvin to run the prints as soon as possible and will start working on decoding the file." Penny followed the family to the front door. "Oh, Mr. Browning, I wanted to ask you one more thing. Did your wife carry her weapon when she was killed?"

"No," Thomas replied. "It was still in our gun safe. I checked that before the police arrived."

* * *

# # #

* * *

As Penny stepped outside, the neighbor across the street was still busy pretending not to watch what was happening. Penny turned back to the spy family. "Again, thank you for your time," she said, making sure her voice could be heard across the street if the woman was really listening. "I'm confident we can solve this case."

Both women briefly glanced across the street, a flicker of a smile forming. Thomas thanked her for trying to get to the bottom of this, his voice also just loud enough to allow the woman to hear it. Penny turned away after saying goodbye and heard the door behind her close. She really wanted to ask the woman some questions, but wasn't sure how to approach it. A direct approach might make the woman feel caught spying on her neighbors.

Penny glanced down the street and her eye fell on the house to the left of Thomas. Perfect. She walked up the driveway and knocked, at the same time examining the lock. She didn't want to give away she was doing so, so she couldn't crouch down to get a proper look, but she was almost sure that lock had been tampered with. Just as she knocked again, she heard the nosy neighbor approach.

"If you're looking for the Sweeneys, they're out of town."

Penny turned around with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. "Oh, that's unfortunate."

"You're a police detective, right?"

"Consultant for them, actually." Penny extended her hand. "I'm Penny."

The woman looked at her hand, then shook it very briefly. "Patricia. Are you investigating Alicia's murder?"

Penny nodded. "Yes, I've just talked to her husband and stepdaughters, hoping they'd have some ideas about who might have killed her, or why. No luck, I'm afraid." She pointed at the door behind her. "I decided to ask their neighbors if they might have seen or heard anything when Mrs. Browning was killed. Do you know when they left?"

"They left Saturday," Patricia replied, matching the information Thomas had given her minutes ago. "I think they're gone for a week or so. I'm sure Thomas could tell you, since he and Alicia usually watch the house when the Sweeney's are gone."

Penny shrugged. "That doesn't really matter. If they left Saturday, they couldn't have witnessed anything." She paused, looking at Patricia. "You live across from the Brownings, right?" Patricia gave a quick nod. "Did you see or hear anything? Maybe saw someone leaving soon after?"

Patricia appeared to think back hard, but Penny wasn't convinced. "No, I haven't. I must have been in the shower when it happened."

Penny shrugged. "That's okay. I'll just ask the other neighbors if they witnessed anything. Thank you for your help, Mrs...?"

"Friendly," Patricia offered, then shook her head slowly. "Sorry, I should say Harrow. I'm still trying to get used to my husband passing away a little while ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Penny offered, trying not to show all the red flags that had been popping up during her short interaction with Patricia. Penny was sure she found the killer, though she couldn't quite see the motive yet. "Well, again, thank you for your help."

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny had spent nearly an hour interviewing the other neighbors that might have heard or seen anything, all under the watchful eye of her primary suspect. None of the other interviews had led to anything interesting, and she was glad to be back at home.

Penny added a new person card to her case, labeling it Patricia Friendly née Harrow and categorizing her as a suspect. She began with noting all the facts that supported Penny's suspicions.

Fact one: at five foot three, Patricia was three inches shorter than Alicia. Fact two: Patricia had been nervous once Penny started asking her questions. Fact three: lied about whereabouts during murder.

She moved back to her case overview and selected the general factoids card. She added the unauthorized access to Alicia's home office earlier, as well as the fact there had been no sign of a break-in. She also added the possible break-in into the currently unoccupied Sweeney residence, the one place containing a key to the Browning's home, and a much easier lock to pick, especially for an amateur.

Patricia's obsessive watching the Browning residence meant that she knew exactly when the three of them left to see Alicia's parents. She knew exactly when the coast was clear to go through their house and find the book. Another strong argument for marking Patricia as a strong suspect. Penny decided to return tonight and lift the prints from the Sweeney place, without letting Patricia know Penny had found something.

Of course, the big question now was, why? Alicia had probably found something about Patricia that the latter didn't want to be brought to the attention of anyone, but what could it be? Penny retrieved the file she'd been given, the one Alicia had kept in her private office at home. That file literally made no sense, compared to the other file Penny had seen. On the surface it seemed an investigation into insurance fraud, but it was surprisingly light on facts and findings.

She flipped through the pages mindlessly, not even trying to read it. She was about to put it on her desk, but paused halfway. A page was missing, Penny suddenly realized. Flipping through the pages, not focusing on speed reading, she subconsciously seemed to have focused on the page numbering. Page five was not in there. She opened the file again, verifying what her subconscious had picked up and indeed it skipped from page four to page six.

It was just a coincidence that page four ended a sentence and page six started a new one. There wasn't even any indication that an entire page was missing, the new sentence on page six fitting seamlessly after the last sentence of page four. Penny remembered finding the corner of a sheet of paper clenched in Alicia's hand when she inspected the murder scene.

What if Alicia had been holding that page, confronting her suspect? Considering who Alicia - and now Penny - suspected of _something_, she wouldn't have felt the need to take her weapon. Patricia may be a liar, but up until she killed Alicia, there was no indication Patricia could even handle a weapon, let alone kill someone - a friend and neighbor, no less - in cold blood. Still, Penny wouldn't have confronted a suspect like that, out in the open, with no means to defend herself. That meant Alicia wouldn't have either; she'd been smart and had worked for the fricking CIA.

No, what if Patricia had found it, had actually been in Alicia's office before today? And suppose she'd mindlessly flipped through the pages and noticed the second to last page contained something incriminating her? It wasn't unthinkable Alicia hadn't even known yet that Patricia had done something wrong, but had noted some facts that Patricia could link to something she'd been involved with.

Penny typed up her thoughts and new avenues to explore and got ready to return to the Sweeney residence. Tomorrow morning she'd go to Kelvin and have him check the prints, both the ones found in Alicia's home office as well as the ones Penny believed to find on the Sweeney front door and lock.

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny waited patiently near the entrance to the cul-de-sac. All houses had turned off their lights, Patricia's being the last almost twenty five minutes ago. Penny wanted to make sure everyone, especially Patricia, had enough time to fall asleep to minimize the risk anyone would get up and just so happen to look outside and see her in front of the Sweeney residence.

Once the half hour was up, she silently got out of her car and made her way over to her target. It took her only a minute to crouch down in front of the door and retrieve her tools from the black bag she was carrying. She laid them in front of her and inspected the lock more closely. It had definitely been tampered with; whoever had broken into the Sweeney's place was not a professional.

She looked at her tools and exhaled softly. She only ever once successfully lifted a set of prints, and she was well aware that if she did it wrong, they'd lose all evidence. Maybe she shouldn't do this, have the police do it instead? Yes, Patricia would then know, but at least they'd have the evidence.

Penny knew that the longer she looked at the tools in front of her, the more likely it became she would be seen. It also began to seriously psych her out, making her increasingly unsure of the wisdom of doing this job herself. Still, she sat there for almost a minute, unsure about what to do: leave or just try and get the prints herself.

Then Penny froze, hearing a quiet footstep mere feet away, certain it had been on the driveway. She readied herself, automatically going into a defensive posture without giving away she had heard anything, prepared to defend herself. As long as an attacker thought they had the upper hand, they were easy to surprise in the first few seconds. Then she remembered that Alicia had been shot; there could very well be a gun pointed at her head right now. Penny decided that in this case the best defense might be an offense; she quickly stood up and turned to her attacker, ready to strike.

**To be continued**

* * *

**AN: Wow, never figured people would get so nervous from introducing a couple of CIA agents. And to think the CIA wasn't originally planned to be part of this story, nor in any future stories.**

**Anyway, thank you all who are reading, and especially those who leave a review. I've been slacking in replying to you faithful reviewers, for which I apologize. Busy with work, and some personal stuff is also interfering with my schedule. I haven't even written anything this past two weeks.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Surprise! It's a few hours early. Enjoy!**

* * *

Penny broke off her attack upon seeing the person who had approached her.

"The prints won't magically be transferred to the evidence paper," Veronica said quietly, pointing at Penny's tools still on the floor.

Penny smiled. "I know," she replied in an equally quiet voice. "I was just debating whether or not to do this. I don't really have a lot of experience in _successfully_ obtaining a good set of fingerprints."

Veronica nodded. "I was wondering why you were just sitting there. Want me to do it?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah." She stepped aside to allow Veronica access to the lock. "I didn't realize you were staying with your dad."

"I'm not. He called me about half an hour ago to let me know everyone had turned off their lights. I arrived five minutes ago and was just about to walk to the house when I saw you exiting your car."

Penny cursed herself for having missed being watched; in her line of work that was dangerous. "I guess you had the same idea I had?"

Veronica nodded, expertly and efficiently applying the solvent to the lock. "I saw you ring the doorbell, despite having been told by Dad the Sweeneys weren't home. I figured you didn't want Dad's nosy neighbor knowing you were checking the lock, but I could tell that's what you were focusing on."

Veronica carefully placed the transparent tape over the prints that had become visible. "I didn't know if you would come back later or not, so I decided to come back after everyone would be asleep to check it out and possibly get you some evidence." She quickly finished transferring the prints to a piece of paper Penny had taken with her. "There you go," she said, handing it to Penny, then began to gather the used items. "Were you planning to check inside?"

Penny shook her head. "No, not really. Didn't want to risk ruining the evidence by picking the lock again."

Veronica grinned. "I have a key. Want to check it out?"

Penny nodded, storing her little black bag where she knew she wouldn't lose it easily. "Definitely. Maybe additional evidence can be found inside."

Moments later they were inside, Veronica deciding to stay near the window to keep an eye out in case they would get company. Penny walked further into the living room, using her penlight to illuminate the objects she wanted to inspect, being careful not to direct it towards the front windows. "I'm surprised there's no alarm."

Veronica hummed. "We've asked them several times to reconsider, but they don't seem to think it's all that important. Granted, there are not a lot of break-ins here, probably because potential burglars expect every house to have an alarm."

"And why bother when all you have is fake art around the house," Penny observed.

Veronica chuckled. "Alicia noticed the same thing. Jen and I, even Dad, we've been here countless times, never noticed a thing. Alicia figured it out on her first visit."

Penny smiled. "I wish I'd met her when she was still alive. Sounds like someone I could've sparred with on some of the more challenging investi- oh, hello..." Penny carefully picked up the gun with her gloved hand. "Same caliber that killed your stepmother."

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny and Veronica sneaked out of the Sweeney residence, making sure they weren't seen. Veronica immediately went to her father's front door and knocked gently. The door opened only a second later, allowing Veronica and Penny to enter. Thomas was surprised to see Penny follow her in.

"Found her in front of the Sweeney house," Veronica explained Penny's presence, after a quick hug with her father. "The lock was definitely picked, and she wanted to get the prints without alerting everyone in the neighborhood."

"I've only ever done that once," Penny added, not afraid to admit not being great at something. "I was seriously contemplating just leaving and getting the police to do it in broad daylight."

"I got her the prints and we took a quick look inside."

Penny pulled the bagged weapon from her black bag. "Somebody stashed this at your neighbor's place. Same caliber..." Penny shut her mouth, barely preventing herself from adding "that killed your wife."

"Why," Thomas asked.

Penny carefully returned the weapon. "It's evidence, so the killer would want to get rid of it. What better place than the house you're breaking in to, to obtain the house keys of your victim? Especially considering the owners are out of town for two weeks, and had left a few days before the murder took place. It's probably the one house in the neighborhood the police is unlikely to search."

"I know you're suspecting Pat," Thomas began, "but I seriously doubt she's involved. She and her late husband, have been good friends to Alicia and I, for as long as we've lived here. Yes, she's nosy, but she's been that way from the beginning."

Penny always hated these situations, the moment she had to inform the victim's family someone they liked, even trusted, were not all that trustworthy. The best approach, she'd found, was to not beat around the bush, but rip off the band-aid. "She lied about her whereabouts around the time of your wife's death, and she was extremely nervous when I started asking questions, none of which implied me suspecting her."

"She could be nervous and _not_ involved in the crime," Thomas tried.

Penny nodded. "Yes, possibly, but I didn't get the impression of someone who scares easily, someone who would become nervous for no apparent reason. She also happens to be the same height as the killer and I'm pretty sure she's never paid this much attention to your house."

"Dad, I hate to say this, but she's definitely got a point about Pat watching the house like a hawk ever since Alicia was killed."

"Look," Penny decided to extend an olive branch. "I'm not limiting my research to just her. It may very well be the prints we found don't even match Patricia's."

"I doubt the police has her prints on file," Veronica said. "I'll see about getting her prints some way or other."

Penny grinned. "No need. Earlier today I asked her for a bottle of water. I was careful to only hold it where her hand wasn't when she handed it to me."

* * *

# # #

* * *

"You're usually much more vocal upon arrival," Kelvin said, once they were seated in a small room to discuss the case. "Were you partying all night," he asked with a grin.

"I think I found the murder weapon," Penny countered, retrieving the bagged item from her purse, and effectively wiping the grin from his face.

Penny proceeded to update him on her side of the investigation, leaving out the fact that Alicia's stepdaughters were trained field agents for the CIA. The fewer people who knew, the safer it was for them. Of course Kelvin wasn't likely to ever put that information in an official report, but why force him to lie or, in this case, omit?

"Sounds like you were far more productive for this case than I was," he observed once Penny finished her update, looking at the physical evidence Penny had placed in front of him. "It's unlikely the former Mrs. Friendly, now Ms. Harrow, had her prints in the system, unless she's been busted for something before."

Penny retrieved the water bottle, wrapped carefully in some plastic, and placed it in front of Kelvin. "I got thirsty and Pat was kind enough to give me one. What?"

Kelvin shook his head. "A woman's purse must be magical, considering the amount of things you all seem to be able to get in those things."

Penny shrugged and grinned. "I could tell you how it works, but I'd have to kill you. No man is allowed to know how we do things."

Kelvin chuckled. "Keep your secrets." He grabbed the weapon, the fingerprints and the bottle. "I'll get these processed, see if we can get it done today."

Penny nodded and stood up. "Great. I'm going to dive into Pat's life. Until you have proof she's not the killer, she's still my number one suspect. Let me know when you have the results?"

"Of course," Kelvin said as they parted ways, Penny going to her car and back home.

It was a good thing Kelvin and her had been working together for a while now, Penny reflected on her drive home. Her research methods weren't always entirely legal, and it was best if she stuck to those methods at home. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to work with the illegal evidence to find a legal avenue of investigation to get to the same conclusion, the part that she could - and regularly would - do at the police station.

Penny began to think about the best way to begin her research; there was enough traffic to ensure it would take her longer than usual to get home, and Penny hated wasting time. Obviously motivation would be the best choice, but what could have motivated Patricia to kill her friend? It seemed so unlikely a case of insurance fraud would be enough to kill someone over. It just didn't make sense. But what did that leave as motive?

Penny then recalled something Sarah had told them about field agents knowing Alicia's identity: "The other one decided to quit several years ago. Her identity is unknown, ensuring her safety." Was Patricia a former field agent? Did Alicia make a mistake, causing Patricia's mission to fail? But if Patricia had been a field agent, her observation of the Browning residence should have been much more covert. It didn't seem likely she would deliberately spy in such an amateurish way; there was no reason to do so, in fact a covert manner would have been much better.

* * *

# # #

* * *

Upon return to her apartment, Penny navigated to Facebook and began a search on Patricia Friendly. The third profile result was indeed the nosy neighbor's profile. Last updated about a week ago, so apparently still actively used. Penny immediately copied the list of friends - most of which had public profiles - as well as the name of the high school and college Patricia had attended.

Penny assumed that if Patricia was a fake identity given to her by the CIA, they would have had no trouble setting up a Facebook profile and have it seem nearly perfect. But the connections - specifically ones from high school and college - were likely limited, at most connected to each other, but not to other new profiles. After checking the first profile, a best friend of Patricia's during high school, it seemed unlikely to be a fake. Lots of friends and family, not linked to Patricia or any of her other Facebook friends. There were several pictures of the two of them. While it was certainly possible the CIA had gone the extra mile, and added a multitude of fake profiles and doctored photos, it just seemed highly unlikely.

At least Penny now knew she could ignore that possibility, and focus on the other direction of the research: why had Patricia killed Alicia? It must have something to do with the weird case file, the missing page and probably the missing book. Somehow, they were connected to the murder.

Penny picked up the case file Alicia had started. She had missed something, she was certain. There was something in Alicia's file that would give Penny an indication of what was going on. She read each page carefully at regular speed, taking extra care not to miss anything. Again, it yielded no further information, other than references to various investigations done by insurance companies. Actually, just two companies. Page six was about a case at a different company.

Penny typed in the name of the first company in her web search page. She clicked through several pages, quickly scanning each. She found nothing out of the ordinary, besides the website seemingly not being kept very much up to date. The second company name led to a much more modern, and definitely updated website. Scanning the site didn't give her a lot of information either, until she reached the page listing their employees and one name drew her attention: Stephen Bradford.

She'd just seen that name, on Patricia's profile, she was certain. She clicked on Patricia's profile again and sure enough, there was the name, as a recently added friend. The profile picture held the same face as shown on the company's website. Clicking through to Stephen's profile showed his current place of work and, more interestingly, his previous place of work: the first insurance company.

Penny sat back, her mind going over the possibilities at high speed. She realized she had to get back to the precinct and dive into some research that was best done officially, possibly with the help of Kelvin, to obtain the information she'd need. But if she was right, this case was about more than just a murder.

**To be concluded**

* * *

**AN2: We're almost there, just one more chapter. I'm still super busy, and still haven't written anything, or even replied to your reviews. I do appreciate you all leaving a review. After next week, things should calm down a bit and I will have more time for you and for writing.**


	5. Chapter 5

Kelvin was obviously surprised to see Penny walk in. "Don't tell me you've figured it out already."

Penny shrugged. "For the most part, I think I have a pretty good idea. But some things have to be researched, information obtained through official and legal channels. So, here I am."

Kelvin indicated the empty room the department used to discuss or research a case. "Want to move there and fill me in?"

"Sure," Penny said. Once they were settled, she opened Patricia's Facebook profile on the computer. "Patricia's profile page. Notice that about a month ago, she added a new friend to her list, Stephen Bradford." She clicked on the name and Stephen's profile page opened up. "Stephen works as an insurance claims investigator."

Kelvin looked from the screen to Penny. "And this is important how?"

"Patience, Kelvin," Penny said. "Notice the name of his current employer." Penny pointed to the name on the screen and then retrieved the case file Alicia had put together, opening it to the final page.

"That could be a coincidence," Kelvin said, noticing the same company name.

"Sure," Penny said, nodding. She pointed at the screen again. "See who his former employer is? Can you guess the name of the company on the other four page we have here," she asked, tapping the case file. "A file containing cases with dubious rulings on whether or not they were fraudulent. I've read them and all of them appear to be fraudulent, yet the investigator deemed them to be above board."

Kelvin shook his head. "I find it hard to believe Ms. Harrow would kill to help a friend she only recently met."

Penny nodded. "Yes, I agree. Luckily, Stephen is not just a friend of Patricia. He's her boyfriend. And based on the photos on his Facebook page, the two of them had some fun for the last two years on a regular basis." Penny showed a few photos, dated almost two years ago with the two of them obviously enjoying each other's company. "Makes it more likely Pat would help her boyfriend, right?"

"Yeah," Kelvin agreed, "but you're assuming she knew our victim was looking into the insurance fraud. Can you prove it?"

"Not hard proof, but I think enough for a warrant to get the rest." Penny logged on to her cloud-based case file and displayed the photo of the wall of Alicia's office. She zoomed in on the section in which the missing book was on display. Luckily, the quality of the photo was top notch, and the book title was readable. With the mouse pointer she indicated the book in the middle of the photo. "This book has gone missing from Alicia's shelve. Notice the title and the damage at the top right of the spine."

Kelvin nodded and Penny navigated back to Patricia's Facebook profile. "Here's a photo of Patricia when she was still married to Eric Friendly." She zoomed in slightly, knowing the picture quality wasn't nearly as good as the one Jennifer had taken. "It's pretty hard to read the title, but I'm sure you can see the damage at the top right?"

Kelvin nodded. "Yeah, definitely looks like the same book."

Penny navigated back to the photo from Alicia's home office wall. "The book's title is 'Tackling Insurance Fraud: Law and Practice,' which would be helpful to Alicia in her research into insurance fraud."

Kelvin nodded again. "So, our victim asked our suspect if she could borrow this book, our suspect brought it to her and was in her office."

Penny nodded. "Yes. Considering how particular Alicia was about the books, all of them in alphabetical order, it would take her a bit longer to put it in the correct location. This would give Patricia some time to notice the file and read something she knew could get her lover in trouble. I'm speculating here, obviously, but what if Patricia snatched the file before rushing out, and Alicia followed her, confused why her neighbor and friend did that?"

Kelvin raised his hand. "Hold on. Are you saying our suspect was carrying the gun with her?"

Penny shrugged. "Maybe." She paused. "Anyway, that's option one."

* * *

# # #

* * *

Kelvin looked at her. "You have more options?"

"Only one more, and that's the one I'm going to need some official help with. And I think you'll like this one." Penny navigated back to Stephen's Facebook page. "Do you remember when Patricia's husband was in a car accident that killed him?"

"About eight months ago, right?"

Penny nodded. "Yup. And when did Patricia's lover on the side switch employer?"

"Almost a year ago," Kelvin said, checking the profile page.

"So, let's say you're Patricia. You're married but want out. Now, you could divorce him but, depending on prenuptial, you might end up having to give up the lifestyle you've gotten used to. But if your husband has a life insurance policy in your name, you are certain to get some money out of it."

Kelvin raised his hand. "Hold on, in a lot of cases, these policies have clauses where there won't be a payout if the policy holder was murdered."

Penny nodded. "Exactly. So, you'd want to make sure that an investigation results in a favorable ruling." Penny pointed at the screen. "Move a pawn into position."

Kelvin nodded slowly. "You think your suspect's late husband had his policy with the company Mr. Bradford had been employed with for a few months?"

Penny once again nodded. "I do, and that's what I need help with, to get the information from the company. So, basically, Patricia killed her husband, probably by sabotaging the car brakes, and Stephen covered for her by ruling it as an accident. The missing page from Alicia's file might have contained that particular case, Patricia noticed it, panicked and ran out of Alicia's house with the page."

Kelvin nodded. "And our victim ran after her friend, wanting to know why she ripped out a page and ran away." He stared at the screen in thought. "See, nine out of ten times, the spouse did it."

Penny grinned. "I knew you'd like this option. So, can you help me get the information? And maybe a warrant to search Patricia's house?"

* * *

# # #

* * *

"You were right about Mr. Friendly's insurance policy," Kelvin said a little later as he walked back in.

Penny nodded. "I already know. I tracked down the service station that had worked on his car only a week earlier. The manager told me that one of the investigators from that company had concluded his employees had done shoddy work and used sub-par materials, causing the brake line to rupture. They got into a bit of trouble, though it all eventually worked out. He's also good friends with Thomas and Alicia, so I'm guessing that's how Alicia found out about it."

Kelvin nodded. "I think we figured it all out. Ballistics have already matched the weapon you found to the bullet that killed our victim, and I expect the results of the finger prints to arrive any minute. I'll get started on obtaining a warrant."

Penny nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna call and check with another insurance fraud victim from Alicia's case file." Penny looked up the contact information of a woman about Alicia's age. She'd been friends with Alicia since kindergarten, so Penny was very sure that's what triggered Alicia's investigation.

Penny introduced herself, and explained she was investigating her friend's murder. "Did you know Alicia was looking into your insurance fraud case?"

"_No, I didn't. I know I mentioned it to her, but had no reason to believe she'd look into it. I mean, she's a paralegal, she can't really give me any legal advice anyway, right?_"

Penny nodded. "True, but I think she was gathering information to present to her bosses. Do you remember who the claims investigator was?"

There was short pause. "_I don't have his name, but I remember what he looked like. Do you want me to describe him?_"

"That would be very helpful."

"_Okay, well, I guess him to be in his late thirties, about six feet tall, a receding hairline, dark hair, very bright green eyes, a little overweight._"

That was definitely Stephen. Penny thanked the woman for the information and said goodbye.

At the same moment, Kelvin entered the room. "That's it," he said, holding up some sheets of paper. "Finger prints on the weapon match with our suspect, as do the prints you found on the neighbors' lock and in our victim's office. And," he added, handing her one sheet, "there was a surprise match."

Penny looked at the sheet. It was a set of prints obtained from Eric's car, close to where the brake line had ruptured. "She did it herself?"

Kelvin nodded. "Sure looks like she did. And," he added, again handing her a sheet of paper, "The former Mrs. Friendly had talked to a lawyer about a divorce a little over two years ago, but did not go through with it."

Penny nodded again. "So, before she met Stephen Bradford. Interesting."

"Very," Kelvin agreed. "Mr. Bradford might actually be just a pawn."

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny followed Kelvin into Patricia's home, her eyes immediately going to the book shelve. "She actually put it right back," Penny said, pointing at the book. She let Kelvin secure the book as evidence and made her way over to the trash can. As she rummaged through it, she quickly realized there was not a single piece of paper in it. Neither could she find any plastics in there.

A quick look around gave her a big plastic bag full of empty plastic bottles and a big cardboard box with folders and other papers. Penny focused on the cardboard box and was almost at the bottom when she found the page that went missing from Alicia's case file. "Got it," she said out loud, knowing that Kelvin knew exactly what she was referring to.

"That corner piece you found looks like a match," Kelvin said, holding said corner in his hand and visually comparing its shape to the missing corner on the page Penny held.

Penny looked up. "This page is actually about the car accident Eric was in, except I don't think Alicia had made that link yet. Remember, she was just gathering information on cases of insurance fraud victims that she knew, in this case, the car service center that had checked over Eric's car."

Penny stood up. "I think we got everything we need."

Kelvin nodded. "Yeah. Time to confront Patricia."

* * *

# # #

* * *

Penny sat down on the sofa, once again flanked by the Browning women, though this time they weren't keeping a close watch on her to protect their father. "I guess you guys saw Patricia being arrested earlier?" At the confirming nods, Penny nodded as well. "We found both the book that went missing from Alicia's office, and the missing page from her preliminary case file."

"Missing page?"

Penny glanced apologetically at Veronica. "Sorry, forgot to mention that last night. Anyway, her prints matched both the lock of your next-door neighbors, as well as the weapon we found stored there. There was another match that popped up. On her late husbands car, close to the brake line that had failed."

This time Thomas indicated his surprise. "Wait, you suspect her for causing her husband's death? That's insane."

Penny looked Thomas in the eyes. "She confessed. To both the tampering with the brake line on her husband's car, as well as killing your wife."

Thomas closed his eyes for a moment. "But why? Why would she do all that?"

Penny once again felt that ripping off the band-aid would be best. "She killed her husband and made it look like an accident so she could receive his life insurance. She pretended to have fallen in love with an insurance fraud investigator and got him to switch jobs to the insurance company her husband's policy was on. Once her husband had had his accident, the investigator could ensure the service station that last looked at her husband's car would be blamed."

Penny sighed. "You guys know the owner of the service station and he mentioned the case to Alicia. Apparently, your wife had already heard similar stories from friends, and decided to do some preliminary work. Her intention was to hand it over to me, since her job would make it hard for her to work on it."

Jennifer spoke first. "So, the missing page contained the information on Patricia's husband's car accident?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah. During her confession she said she immediately recognized it and, in blind panic, ripped it out and ran out. It wasn't until she was outside that Alicia caught up to her and managed to get the page back. She demanded Patricia explained why she took the page, while she was going over it."

Penny shook her head. "Patricia realized at that point Alicia hadn't made the connection yet, but knew she couldn't ever let the truth come out. It just so happened she had the weapon in her purse and she used it."

Thomas sat back in his chair and shook his head. "I'd never thought her to be so ruthless."

Penny knew what he meant; if you've been friends with someone, interacted with them often, and then find out they are basically a sociopath, can be quite jarring. "She'll go to prison, probably for the rest of her life. Mr. Bradford, the man Patricia used to make sure her husband's accident wouldn't be marked as a deliberate murder, will also get prison time, though far less."

Everyone went quiet after that, until Veronica broke the silence. "Thank you for figuring this all out."

Penny shrugged. "It's my job." She stood up. "I'm just glad we could solve the case."

Jennifer also stood up to allow Penny to leave. "Yeah. Listen, if you ever need some information or something, feel free to contact us."

Penny smiled. "While I appreciate the offer, I wouldn't want you to risk your jobs. Besides, there isn't much information hidden so well that I can't get it myself."

**The End**

* * *

**AN: And this concludes the second story in the Penny Investigations series. There will definitely be more, but when that might appear, I could not say. These last couple of weeks I have not been able to write much.**

**But, the next story will once again have Leonard in it!**


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